Apparatus for conveying cigarettes



Aug. 31, 1965 G. F. PEMBROKE ETAL 3,203,431

APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING CIGARETTES Original Filed June '7. 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 //V VEN T025 ATTORNEYS 31, 1955 e. F. PEMBROKE ETAL 3,203,431

APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING CIGARETTES Original Filed June 7, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 //V VE N 7012 dmwf mgymi ATTORNEKY United States Patent 3,203,431 APPARATUS FUR CONVEYING CIGARETTES George Frederick Pembroke and James George Edward I-Iillman, London, England, assignors to The Molina (Prganisation Limited, a British Company Uriginal application June '7, I961, Ser. No. 115,355. Divided and this application Sept. 3, 1963, Ser. No. 306,157 I Claims priority, application Great Britain, June 3, I909, 26,094/60 4 Ciaims. (Cl. 13I27) This invention is a division from United States application Serial No. 115,355, filed June 7, 1961, and now abandoned, and concerns improvements in apparatus for conveying filter-tip cigarettes and subjecting them to a process known as re-rolling, while they are in transit.

Most filter-tip cigarettes are made nowadays by assembling two pieces of cigarette rod with an intervening double-length stub and joining the assemblage together by wrapping a piece of tipping material around the middle of the assemblage to join the pieces together, whereafter the product is cut centrally to provide two filter-tip cigarettes.

Where the stubs are made of comparatively hard material they are seldom as round as is desirable and they can be improved by rolling them between pressure surfaces and the conveying apparatus described herein is arranged to perform this rolling action on the stubs during the transit of the cigarettes from the cutting device to the other apparatus An object of the invention is to provide conveying and re-rolling apparatus for filter-tip cigarettes in which the cigarettes are conveyed in controlled spaced relationship but so that they leave the conveyor and pass through the re-rolling device without contact with the conveyor but resume their positions on the conveyor after leaving the re-rolling device. This arrangement is of value for certain purposes where the cigarettes must move in definite timed relationship with other apparatus and yet they must be unrestricted during the re-rolling operation.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of one form of cigarette conveying apparatus.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of another form of cigarette conveying apparatus.

FIGURE 3 is a view of a part of FIGURE 1, looking in the direction of the arrow A.

Referring first to FIGURE 1, 1 is a fluted drum, forming part of a filter-tip cigarette-making machine and into the flutes of which assemblages, consisting of two pieces of cigarette rod 2 and an intervening double-length stub, are fed in any desired manner, the components having been secured together by a piece of wrapping material 3 in the previous part of the filter-tip machine. In FIG URE 3 a component is shown after it has been cut into separate cigarettes but the nature of the part 3 is clear from the view. The flutes of the drum are divided lengthwise of the drum by various reduced parts of the drum periphery, the drum in fact consisting of a series of fluted discs assembled together with spacers between. A cutting disc 4 divides the assemblage at its mid-length to separate it into two filter-tip cigarettes which are spaced axially by the width of the cutter. Shortly after separation the cigarettes meet a wedge-shaped separator 5 which spaces them apart axially by its width so that they are as shown in FIGURE 3. The separator is supported by a bracket 6.

An arcuate plate 9 and a rotating roller 8 constitute a rolling passage, the parts being so shaped and sized that only the stub part of the cigarette is rolled. For this purpose, and as shown in FIGURE 3, the plate 9 is slightly relieved at the places where the cigarette-rod part of the cigarette passes so that only the stub part is subjected to rolling pressure by the middle part 9A of the plate. It is not possible to show the step between the surfaces of 9 and 9A on FIGURE 1 because it is almost imperceptible and it is exaggerated in FIGURE 3.

The conveyance of the cigarettes from the cutting position and through the rolling mechanism is effected in a controlled or positive manner so that they cannot move by any material amount from their desired position. This control is exercised by conveyor chains 20 comprising abutments 21 against which the cigarettes rest. As can be seen, two neighbouring abutments form a pocket which accommodates a cigarette.

A spring plate 7 controls the cigarettes as they approach the rolling passage and a bent down end of the spring holds the cigarette nearest to the passage until it is pushed by the following abutment into the passage. The spring is quite light and will flex under the pressure of the moving cigarette and release it to the rolling mechanism.

The chains carry the cigarettes into the rolling passage and then cease to engage the cigarettes, as the roller 8 projects a considerable distance above the chain level. At the far side of the roller 8 the chains are again positioned to receive the cigarettes and, as will be clear from the figure, each cigarette leaves a pocket in the chains as it enters the rolling passage and returns to the same pocket after rolling is finished. In this way the cigarettes are under positive control as to their spacing on the conveyor, although they are released from the conveyor for the rolling action.

The two rows of cigarettes resulting from the cutting action generally require to be laterally separated by a greater distance than can be effected by the wedge 5 alone and the separation by wedge 5 is just sufiicient to allow the rows of cigarettes to pass on either side of a plate 10. At the near side of the apparatus, as viewed in FIGURE 1, the cigarettes of the front row are carried by the chains 20 on to a stripper plate 12; down which they roll and are discharged on to a conveyor band 13 which leads them to other apparatus such as tray-filling apparatus, but prior to their delivery on to the stripper plate the cigarettes of the nearer row are again displaced axially to separate them still further from those in the far row. This further separation is effected by an air blast through an aperture 19 in the plate 10, air being provided by a fan or pump (not shown) which forces air through a pipe 17 which leads into a block 18 fixed to the plate It).

The cigarettes in the other row, the far row as considered with respect to FIGURE 1, are carried from the rolling passages by the conveyor chains and brought near a rotatable suction head 16. This operates to seize each cigarette in turn from the chain conveyor and turn it through endwise so that the tip is reversed, as is customary in the art, and so that both rows of cigarettes have their tips pointing in the same direction. This suction head 16 is described in detail in United States Patent No. 3,000,488, to which reference may be made for further information,

The chains are supported on sprocket wheels 21A and 22 respectively, the wheels 21A being fixed to the drum 1 and forming the chain driving wheels.

In FIGURE 2 there is shown another embodiment in which like parts have the same references. The two rows of cigarettes after they have been divided by the knife 4 are separated to a limited extent by a separator 23 and are stripped from the fluted drum 1 by lugs 24 of a conveyor member 25 which is built up in the form of discs keyed to a shaft 26. As the conveyor member 25 carries the two rows of cigarettes away from the drum 1 control of the cigarettes is exercised by means of a spring 37 which lightly bears on top of them. Between inner discs of the conveyor 25 is situated the roller 8, driven through a gear 28 and a further gear 29 internally arranged on the conveyor member 25, which lifts the cigarettes into Contact with the arcuate plate 9 and rolls them as previously described. The two rows are separated still further by an air blast on the near row through the nozzle 19 and in this example cigarettes of the near row are turned by the suction head 16 while the far row runs down the plate 12.

The advantage of the arrangement shown in FIGURE 2 lies in the simplicity of the parts and in the compactness of the whole unit which can be fitted into a smaller area than the other embodiment.

What we calim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for conveying filter mouthpiece cigarettes and re-rolling their mouthpiece portions, including an endless conveyor device to convey the said cigarettes sideways in succession, and a rolling device positioned to receive successive cigarettes from and replace them on the endless conveyor device, the said rolling device comprising a roller having a peripheral surface which is located in the path of cigarettes carried by said endless conveyor device, with part of said peripheral surface extending above the level of the said path so as to raise cigarettes from and return them to the endless conveyor device, and a counterr. rolling element positioned above said peripheral surface and arranged to engage at least the mouthpiece ends of cigarettes on the said peripheral surface.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said endless conveyor device has abutments defining spaces each of which accommodates a cigarette.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which the endless conveyor device is a chain conveyor having said abutments upstanding from its links.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which the endless conveyor device consists of spaced discs fixed to a rotatable shaft, the discs having radial extensions from their peripheries constituting the said abutments.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,470,348 10/23 Clark 89-1 2,740,409 4/56 Korber 131-94 2,358,046 10/58 Pollmann 131-94 X 2,874,701 2/59 Stelzer 131-94 X 3,000,488 9/61 Rowlands 131-25 X 3,026,662 3/62 Largen et al 198-103 X FOREIGN PATENTS 745,752 2/56 Great Britain.

SAMUEL KOREN, Primary Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING FILTER MOUTHPIECE CIGARETTES AND RE-ROLLING THEIR MOUTHPIECE PORTIONS, INCLUDING AN ENDLESS CONVEYOR DEVICE TO CONVEY THE SAID CIGARETTES SIDEWAYS IN SUCCESSION, AND A ROLLING DEVICE POSITIONED TO RECEIVE SUCCESSIVE CIGARETTES FROM AND REPLACE THEM ON THE ENDLESS CONVEYOR DEVICE, THE SAID ROLLING DEVICE COMPRISING A ROLLER HAVING A PERIPHERAL SURFACE WHICH IS LOCATED IN THE PATH OF CIGARETTES CARRIED BY SAID ENDLESS CONVEYOR DEVICE WITH PART OF SAID PERIPHERAL SURFACE EXTENDING ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE SAID PATH SO AS TO RAISE CIGARETTES FROM AND RETURN THEM TO THE ENDLESS CONVEYOR DEVICE, AND A COUNTERROLLING ELEMENT POSITIONED ABOVE SAID PERIPHERAL SURFACE AND ARRANGED TO ENGAGE AT LEAST THE MOUTHPIECE ENDS OF CIGARETTES ON THE SAID PERIPHERAL SURFACE. 